(Communicated by the Foreign Ministry)
December 28, 1998
1. The Government of Israel has not frozen the implementation of the Wye
River Memorandum nor has it frozen the negotiations with the Palestinian
Authority in the framework of the joint committees and the permanent
status talks.
2. Despite recent internal political developments, the Government of
Israel has reiterated its commitment to the Wye Memorandum, and all the
agreements that have been signed with the Palestinians.
This commitment is subject to the principle of reciprocity and the
fulfillment by the Palestinian Authority of all the obligations which it
has undertaken in accordance with the Wye Memorandum. (It should be
recalled that according to the Memorandum, each stage of further
redeployments is dependent upon the Palestinian fulfillment of the
specific commitments and relevant obligations of each phase, as detailed
in the time-line attached to the Memorandum).
It should be stressed in this regard, that Israel is continuing its
participation in the ongoing work of the joint negotiating committees, and
more than 30 meetings have taken place since the Wye summit. The only
committees which have been inactive, are those that deal with issues that
the Palestinians, for their own reasons, refuse to discuss (the legal
committee and the standing committee which addresses, among other
subjects, "people-to-people" programs).
3. At the same time, it is should be clarified that during the elections
period, difficulties may arise, and conditions caused by the changes in
the national agenda in Israel may slow the decision making process in
various realms.
4. It is important to stress that no policy to freeze the peace process or
the implementation of the Wye Memorandum has been initiated. Indeed the
opposite is true - the policy of the Government and the activities of
the Foreign Ministry are aimed at advancing negotiations on all tracks.
5. All Israeli Governments, including the present one, have considered the
achievement of peace to be a strategic national goal, alongside other
national goals such as security and immigrant absorption.
6. Regretfully, the difficulties and delays in implementing the Wye
Memorandum are the result of the failure of the Palestinian Authority to
comply with its obligations under the agreements. The Palestinian
Authority has yet to completely fulfill its commitments in the following
matters:
- There have been incidents of violence, and incitement to violence
and terrorism, carried out by the Palestinian Authority, most notably in
connection to the Palestinian demand for the release of prisoners "with
blood on their hands" (in contradiction to what was agreed upon at
Wye).
- The collection of illegal weapons in the hands of both civilians and
the security forces of the Palestinian Authority, and their subsequent
transfer to U.S. representatives for destruction, has still not been
carried out.
- Senior officials of the Palestinian Authority have made grave
statements regarding their intention to unilaterally declare an
independent Palestinian state in May 1999, with Jerusalem as its capital,
on the basis of the UN partition plan of 1947 (UN Resolution 181).
- The reduction of the number of members of the Palestinian police force
to 30,000 has yet to be carried out.
- The outlawing of organizations, factions and their support structures,
which call for violence, terrorism or armed actions in order to achieve
their aims, has not been carried out.
- The arrest of murderers and the end of the "revolving door" phenomenon
have yet to be implemented.
Israel, for its part, will fulfill its commitment to continue the further
redeployment according to the Wye time-line, this subsequent to the
complete fulfillment, by the Palestinian Authority, of its appropriate
obligations at every phase of the implementation of the Wye Memorandum.